Chris Claremont

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Chris Claremont (born November 30, 1950 in London, England, United Kingdom) is an American comic book writer, best known for his 16-year (1976-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.

Contents 1 Writer profile 2 Marvel Comics biography 3 Career outside Marvel Comics 4 Awards 5 Bibliography 6 Footnotes 7 References

[edit] Writer profile

Claremont is regarded as one of the hallmark Marvel Comics writers, having written one of the flagship titles, the Uncanny X-Men, for sixteen consecutive years (he is the record-holder for having the longest run as a single writer on an American comic book title). Claremont excelled at the task of writing good "team" arcs, in which every member of the ensemble cast of X-Men had her/ his moment to shine. He was lauded for writing action-packed stories with strong characters, both heroes and villains, mixing it with soap opera elements and always bringing in the social undercurrent of mutants being a harassed minority. Claremont also promoted strong female characters such as Rogue, Storm and Moira MacTaggert, who were a far cry from the token roles usually reserved for women at that time. Claremont's approach set the standard for team-based comic books for decades.

The most common criticism of his work is his overly descriptive writing style. Claremont's characters tend to speak in long paragraphs that are often called forced or unrealistic. He frequently employs third-person omniscient narration to describe events that might easily be conveyed in the art and (to some) unneeded thought bubbles to spell out character motivation and personality, especially during action scenes. He is also known for certain characteristic phrases, (for example, Wolverine's catchphrase, "I'm the best there is at what I do. And what I do... isn't very nice") known as "Claremontisms" among fans.^[1]

Nonetheless, Claremont's work on X-Men, which was longer than that of any other creator, defined many of the X-Men characters and made an indelible impression on the franchise.

[edit] Marvel Comics biography

As an entry into comic writing Claremont was given the fledgling title, Iron Fist in 1974 that also teamed him with John Byrne for the second time. (The first was on Marvel Premiere, where Byrne did Fist's last two appearances.) Len Wein then gave him the writing duties for the relaunched X-Men. Claremont also found narrative excuses to sideline Professor X, as one of the problems with the original X-Men series was that the Professor would appear at the end of the story to magically correct the situation no matter how dire.

During his years as X-Men writer, Claremont wrote or co-wrote many classic stories such as the "Dark Phoenix Saga" and "Days of Future Past". He also co-created numerous important X-Men characters, including Rogue, Psylocke, Shadowcat, Phoenix, Sabretooth, Mystique, Emma Frost, Jubilee, Rachel Summers, Mister Sinister, Madelyne Pryor, and Gambit. In addition, he helped launch best-selling spin-offs such as X-Men, New Mutants , Excalibur, and Wolverine. In 1986 Marvel launched an X-Men spinoff, X-Factor, altering the Phoenix/Jean Grey continuity Claremont had established. In 1991 he left Marvel over differences with the editorial staff.

In 1998, he returned to Marvel as editorial director and the regular writer of Fantastic Four. He also wrote a Wolverine story arc. In 2000, as part of the company's "Revolution" event, he wrote Uncanny X-Men and X-Men until he moved to X-Treme X-Men with penciller Salvador Larroca.

In 2006, illness forced Claremont to postpone the beginning of a planned run on Exiles as well as the launch of GeNext. Also cut short was his run on Uncanny X-Men, which was completed by Tony Bedard over Claremont's plots. Likewise, writer Frank Tieri currently writes New Excalibur in Claremont's stead. Claremont will begin his tenure on Exiles, beginning with Issue #90, where Psylocke will join the group.

[edit] Career outside Marvel Comics

Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.

Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.

He has a cameo in the film X-Men 3 during the Jean Grey prologue, for which he is credited as "Lawnmower man".

[edit] Awards

Claremont won the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for "Favorite Writer" in 1983, 1984, 1988, 1989, and 1990. Also, he won CBG Fan Awards for "Favorite Comic Book Story" in 1990 (The X-tinction Agenda) and "Favorite Graphic Novel or Album" in 1992 (Star Trek: Debt of Honor). [1]

[edit] Bibliography

• Aliens/Predator: The Deadliest of the Species #1-12
• Alpha Flight vol.1 #17
• Amazing Adventures vol.4 #1
• Avengers vol.1 #102
• Avengers Annual #10
• Bizarre Adventures #25, 27
• The Black Dragon #1-6
• Black Goliath #2-5

• Captain Britain vol.1 #1-10
• Captain Britain Annual #1
• Captain Marvel vol.1 #46
• Champions #4
• Contest of Champions II #1-5
• Daredevil vol.1 #102, 117, 375
• Daredevil Annual #4
• Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #19-24, 32-33
• Decimation: House of M - The Day After
• The Defenders vol.1 #19, 57
• Dr. Strange vol.2 #38-45
• Epic Illustrated #10-12, 18, 22-23
• Excalibur vol.1 #1-19, 21-25, 27, 32-34
• Excalibur vol. 3 #1-14
• Excalibur Mojo Mayhem
• Excalibur Special Editon
• The Fantastic 4th Voyage of Sinbad
• Fantastic Four vol.3 #4-32
• Fantastic Four Annual 1999, 2000
• Fantastic Four vs. X-Men #1-4
• Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom Genesis
• GeNext #1-5
• Giant Sized Spider-Man #1
• Giant-Size Defenders #5
• Giant-Size Dracula #2-3
• Giant-Size Ms. Marvel #1
• Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1
• Giant-Size Super Stars Featuring Fantastic Four #4
• Giant-Size X-Men #4
• Heroes for Hope starring X-Men
• Heroes Reborn Ashema 1
• Heroes Reborn Doom 1
• Heroes Reborn Doomsday 1
• The Incredible Hulk vol.2 #148, 170
• Incredible Hulk Annual #5
• Iron Fist vol.1 #1-15
• Iron Man Annual 2001
• John Carter, Warlord of Mars #16-27
• John Carter, Warlord of Mars Annual #3
• Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #1-6
• Magik vol.1 #1-4
• Magneto #0
• Magneto Ascendent #1
• Man-Thing vol.2 #4-8, 10-11
• Marvel Age Annual #4
• Marvel Chillers #4
• Marvel Classics Comics Series Featuring #14, 17
• Marvel Comics Presents #1-10
• Marvel Fanfare vol.1 #1-5, 24, 33, 40
• Marvel Graphic Novel #4-5, 21
• Marvel Premiere #23-25, 27
• Marvel Preview #3-4, 7, 11, 14-15
• Marvel Spotlight vol.1 #24
• Marvel Super-Heroes vol.2 #97
• Marvel Super-Heroes vol.3 #10-11
• Marvel Tales #131-133, 193-198 , 201-208, 235-236, 242, 245, 250, 255
• Marvel Team-Up vol.1 #57-70, 74-77, 79-86, 88-89, 100, 135
• Marvel Team-Up Annual #1-2
• Marvel/Top Cow Crossovers Vol.1 #1
• Marvel Treasury Edition #26
• Marvel Two-In-One #9-10
• The Mighty Thor Annual #9
• Monsters Unleashed #4, 9-10
• Ms. Marvel #3-23
• New Excalibur #1-8
• The New Mutants vol.1 #1-54, 63, 81
• The New Mutants Annual #1-3
• New Mutants Special Edition #1
• Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #11
• Peter Parker Spider-Man Annual 2000
• Phoenix: The Untold Story
• Power Man #47-53
• Power Man Annual #1
• Power Man and Iron Fist #76
• Rom #17-18
• The Savage Sword of Conan #74
• Solo Avengers #14
• Sovereign Seven #1-36
• Spider-Woman (I) #34-46
• Star Wars #17, 53-54
• Star-Lord Megazine #1
• Star-Lord Special Edition #1
• Tales of the Zombie #9
• Uncanny X-Men #94-279, 381-389, 444-473
• Uncanny X-Men Annual #3-12, 14
• Uncanny X-Men/New Teen Titans
• Vampire Tales #9
• War is Hell #9-15
• What if Magneto Had Formed the X-Men with Professor X?
• What if? (II) #32
• WildC.A.T.s: Covert Action Teams (vol. 1) #10-13
• Witchblade/Wolverine #1
• Wolverine (I) #1-4
• Wolverine (II) #1-8, 10, 125 - 128
• Wolverine Saga #1
• Wolverine: Save the Tiger #1
• X-Factor (I) #65-68
• X-Men (II) #1-3, 100-109, 165
• X-Men/Alpha Flight (I) #1-2
• X-Men and the Amazing Spider-Man: Savage Land #1
• X-Men Anniversary Magazine 1
• X-Men Annual 2000
• X-Men Black Sun #1-5
• X-Men vs. Dracula #1
• X-Men: Earthfall #1
• X-Men: The End (I) #1-6
• X-Men: The End (II) - Heroes and Martyrs #1-6
• X-Men: The End (III) - Men and X-Men #1-6
• X-Men Firsts #1
• X-Men: Lost Tales# 1-2
• X-Men/Micronauts #1-4
• X-Men True friends #1-3
• X-Men Universe #9, 11-15
• X-Men Unlimited (I) #27, 36, 39, 43
• X-Treme X-Men #1-46
• X-Treme X-Men Annual 2001
• X-Treme X-Men: Savage Land #1-4
• X-Treme X-Men X-Pose #1-2
• X-Treme X-Men Mekanix (starring Shadowcat) #1-6

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• Chris Claremont at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Cordially Chris
• The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators

Preceded by: Roy Thomas	Uncanny X-Men writer 1975–1991	Succeeded by: John Byrne
Preceded by: Alan Davis	Uncanny X-Men writer 2000–2001	Succeeded by: Scott Lobdell
Preceded by: n/a	X-Treme X-Men writer 2001–2004	Succeeded by: n/a
Preceded by: Chuck Austen	Uncanny X-Men writer 2004–2006	Succeeded by: Ed Brubaker
Preceded by: None	X-Men (vol. 2) writer 1991	Succeeded by: John Byrne
Preceded by: Alan Davis	X-Men (vol. 2) writer 2000–2001	Succeeded by: Scott Lobdell
Preceded by: None	New Mutants (vol. 1) writer 1983–1987	Succeeded by: Louise Simonson
Preceded by: Whilce Portacio	X-Factor (vol. 1) writer 1991	Succeeded by: Peter David
Preceded by: None	Wolverine writer 1988–1989	Succeeded by: Peter David
Preceded by: Warren Ellis	Wolverine writer 1998	Succeeded by: Todd DeZago
Preceded by: None	Excalibur writer 1988–1991	Succeeded by: Scott Lobdell
Preceded by: Scott Lobdell	Fantastic Four writer 1998–2000	Succeeded by: John Francis Moore
Preceded by: Michael Fleisher	Man-Thing writer 1980-1981 (with fill-ins by Dickie Mackenzie and J.M. DeMatteis)	Succeeded by: J.M. DeMatteis
Preceded by: Steve Gerber	Daredevil writer 1975	Succeeded by: Tony Isabella